SAN DIEGO – If not for one wily veteran – here’s looking at you, Ryan Palmer – the chase for 83 would most certainly be on. As it stands, Tiger Woods has some work to do this weekend if he wants to set the all-time PGA Tour wins record. Here are my thoughts on a more-entertaining-than-the-score-indicates 71 at Torrey Pines:

• So, about that first hole. Torrey South’s opener has always given Woods loads of trouble, but never like this. Twenty-five feet away for birdie, he missed wide left on his first attempt. Weird, but whatever. He didn’t mark his 2-footer ... and then barely skimmed the edge. The 7-footer comebacker? Nope. An opening four-putt double bogey.

• It was Tiger’s third four-putt since 2010; he also four-jacked one Saturday in Mexico last year. Lack of concentration, if nothing else. U-g-l-y.

• That mystery on the greens overshadowed, at least early, what was another mostly stellar ball-striking performance. When his tee shot took a bad bounce and barely trickled into the fairway bunker on 4, Tiger needed to dig his heels into the edge of the bunker and clear a steep lip in front of him. Tough shot! But he executed it perfectly, landing his ball right of the flag, inside 10 feet. Didn’t convert the birdie, but who cares – what a special shot.

• A few holes later, things got interesting. A dart into 7. Birdie. A huge par save on 8. A birdie from the front edge on 9. A carved short iron into 10 for another birdie. It was four birdies in five holes, just three off the lead!

• Tiger’s new driver looks good. Very good. His days over overpowering courses are over, but if he can smooth it out there 310, on a tight track like Torrey Pines, with a baby fade, he’s going to be in the mix everywhere. He hit nine of 14 fairways in Round 2.

• Alas, he was about to enter the toughest part of Torrey South. He couldn’t escape the brutal 12th without a dropped shot, made a mess of the 17th and only picked up one shot coming home, on the par-5 finisher.

• His tee shot on 17 was one of his few poor swings of the day – hurried in the transition, flippy at the bottom. That resulted in an overcooked 3-wood that found the native area, leading to an ill-timed (is there ever a good time?) bogey.

• All in all, he’s six shots back of Ryan Palmer. Not ideal, but not toast either. Far from it. The lead is at 10 under; it's not unreasonable to think that'll eventually be the winning score. Palmer is by no means a stone-cold closer, and Tiger knows how to play Torrey South better than anyone, especially if the conditions get more difficult. It’ll take something in the 68-70 range Saturday to have a realistic chance, but that’s doable with these soft greens.

Ryan Palmer fired a 10-under 62 Friday on Torrey Pines' North Course to grab the 36-hole lead at the Farmers Insurance Open. Here's everything you need to know from Round 2 in San Diego:

1. Ryan Palmer, -10

2. Brandt Snedeker, -8

T-3. Matthew NeSmith, -7

T-3. J.B. Holmes, -7

T-3. Sebastian Cappelen, -7

T-3. Jhonattan Vegas, -7

Click here for full leaderboard.

Don't see names such as Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele and defending champion Justin Rose on that leaderboard? You won't this weekend, either, as all of the aforementioned stars missed the cut Friday.

However, there is still plenty of star power left to contend, including Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama and Tiger Woods, all of whom are within six shots of the lead and four shots of second-place Snedeker.

But they are all looking up at Palmer, who nearly tied the North Course record of 61, shot previously by Mark Brooks (1990) and Snedeker (2007), though each of the previous 61s came prior to Tom Weiskopf's 2016 redesigned that toughened up the layout.

The lead traded hands several times throughout the day. Recent Stanford grad Brandon Wu was among those to hold the top spot, getting to 8 under before playing his final seven holes in 4 over with no birdies.

But as action moved into the afternoon, it was Palmer who took control.

Palmer, who was T-2 here two years ago, racked up 11 birdies in his first 17 holes of Friday's second round. His six-birdie back nine included a 5-foot make at the par-4 14th after he drew a nasty lie in the rough right of the fairway, but a closing birdie denied Palmer of a bogey-free day.

This 3-wood by McIlroy into the par-5 ninth hole was incredible. The club twirl, though, was even better.

While there are several big names still with a chance this weekend, the most interesting storyline near the top of the leaderboard might be Holmes.

Two years ago at the Farmers, Holmes ignited a slow-play controversy when he took more than four minutes to play his second shot on the 72nd hole. After a lengthy delay, Holmes opted to lay up on the par-5 closing hole at Torrey Pines' South Course and ultimately finished a shot out of a playoff.

Of course, Holmes has continued to be a lightning rod in the slow-play debate. But after the PGA Tour unveiled its revamped pace-of-play policy last week, one that focuses on individual players, Holmes will get his first moment in the weekend spotlight since the changes.

Holmes shot 3-under 69 with six birdies Friday on the North Course.

Also making a move up the leaderboard with Snedeker, whose second-round 67 on the South was his 12th sub-70 round in 18 rounds this season.

Beau Hossler and Zac Blair each recorded 66s on the North to climb to 6 under while Day was among those to shoot 67, doing so on the North in just his second competitive round since November. He is part of the 4-under group that includes Woods (71), McIlroy (73), Spieth (70) and Bubba Watson (73).

Mickelson played the back nine in 3 over with no birdies while shooting 1-over 73 Friday on the North Course. At 1 over, Mickelson, who hit just two fairways Friday, missed his second straight cut to begin the new year. Even more concerning: Mickelson told Golf Digest after the round that he needed to go to the range before his body "locked up." Regardless of how serious Mickelson was being, there are still some serious questions surrounding Lefty right now.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Madelene Sagstrom birdied seven of the first nine holes and shot a 10-under 62 on Friday to take the second-round lead in the Gainbridge LPGA.

Sagstrom birdied the first two holes, parred the next two and made five straight birdies to make the turn in 7-under 29 at rain-softened Boca Rio Golf Club.

"I kept making putts. And I was like, 'Is this going to end, or am I going to just keep making putts?'" Sagstrom said after needing only 23 putts.

The 27-year-old added birdies on Nos. 11, 12 and 16, bogeyed the par-3 17th and closed with a birdie on the par-4 18th.

"I felt like I could be a little more aggressive today," Sagstrom said. "The ball was going to stop wherever you hit it in the fairway, so we knew that carry was going to be the most specific thing. And I was really aggressive with the pins. I knew it was going to stop right by the pin if I dared to be aggressive."

She opened with a 72 on Thursday.

"I finished two birdies in the dark and in the rain last night, so it really felt like I was on a good roll," Sagstrom said. "That was kind of the mindset for the whole day."

Sagstrom had a 10-under 134 total for a one-stroke lead over European Solheim Cup teammate Carlota Ciganda of Spain. Ciganda had a 66 in the first official event in Boca Raton since the 1989 Oldsmobile LPGA Classic.

Cydney Clanton, Nasa Hataoka and Jennifer Song each shot 64 to get to 8 under.

Sei Young Kim was 7 under after a 69, and Celine Boutier had a 67 to reach 6 under.

First-round leader Jessica Korda followed her opening 66 with a 73 to drop into a tie for eighth at 5 under.

Hometown player Jaye Marie Green also was 5 under.

"It's awesome," Green said. "Getting home-cooked meals every night by my mom. Seeing so many familiar faces. It's nice to have so much support and to play well in front of them, it was awesome."

She rebounded from an opening 73 with a 66.

"I hit the ball the exact same way today, I just made putts today, putts went in," Green said. "Yesterday. I was having trouble reading the greens, but today I just kind of pictured it well. And a lot of them did, but I also left a lot out there."

Fellow Boca Raton player Morgan Pressel was 3 under after a 69.

"It's been awesome," Pressel said. "It's definitely been a little bit different, maybe slightly more hectic than a normal tournament week. But I'm just trying to embrace it. And to have all my friends and family that came out to watch the last couple days, it's just been really special."

Lexi Thompson, playing alongside Pressel and Gaby Lopez, also was 3 under after a 68.

"It's nice to have the tournament in my backyard," Thompson said. "I'm only about five, 10 minutes away from here, so it's really nice. And to have the support out here, especially being paired up with Morgan. I think she has more support here than anybody. So, it's just great to be out here."

Lopez, the Mexican player coming off a playoff victory Monday morning in the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, missed the cut with rounds of 78 and 73.

SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods salvaged a potentially disastrous day to remain in contention on a course where he has a history of making up ground.

The seven-time Farmers Insurance Open champion began his day with a birdie opportunity from 25 feet at the first. Four putts later he was closer to the cut than the lead and scrambling.

“It’s just poa [grass]. I tried to ram it in the hole and it bounced, and hit obviously a terrible third putt, pulled it. The second putt, it's just what happens on poa. I tried to take the break out and it just bounced,” he explained.

Woods rallied with birdies at Nos. 6, 8, 9 and 10 to move to 5 under for the week. Although he bogeyed the 17th hole for a 1-under 71 he remained tied for 17th and six strokes off the lead.

In 2007 at Torrey Pines, Woods was tied for 12th place and seven strokes off the lead after 36 holes before closing with rounds of 69-66 to win by two strokes. He managed an even more impressive rally in 1999 when he was tied for 36th after two rounds and nine strokes back.

“I shot 62-65 on the weekend [in 1999 to win by two shots],” Woods said. “If you make the cut on the number here, anything can happen on the South Course, especially the way it's playing now. It's so much more difficult and I think so much more volatile because of the fact that if you shoot a good round out here on the South, you'll move up the board.”

Nineteen-year-old Erling Haaland followed up his debut hat trick for Borussia Dortmund by scoring two more, again as a substitute, in a 5-1 demolition of Cologne in the Bundesliga on Friday.

Jadon Sancho, another 19-year-old, was also on target with his 11th Bundesliga goal of the season -- his eighth in his last eight outings -- and added another assist as Dortmund outclassed the hapless Billy Goats.

Raphael Guerreiro and Marco Reus set Dortmund on the way with first-half goals as they cut the gap between themselves and leaders RB Leipzig to four points ahead of Leipzig's visit to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

Haaland, the first player ever to score five goals in his first two Bundesliga appearances, has come on in the second half both times and spent a total of 59 minutes on the pitch.

He scored 28 goals in 22 games for Austrian side FC Salzburg in the first half of the season before joining Dortmund in January.

Both first-half goals came from long passes upfield from defender Mats Hummels, who also saw a header hit the bar.

Following the match, Reus told Dazn: "I think it was a step ahead in footballing terms. We scored many goals again.

"Haaland's very calm, relaxed. Works very hard. Also on his fitness. He did not train that much in December. It's wonderful for him. Two games, five goals."

Guerreiro opened the scoring in the first minute from a Sancho assist and Reus doubled their lead before the half hour, the referee awarding the goal after a VAR review after initially disallowing it for offside.

Sancho increased the lead three minutes after the re-start and Mark Uth pulled one back with a superb volley from a tight angle, before Haaland scored a poacher's goal, turning in a rebound for in the 77th minute.

The Norwegian then latched onto a through ball, raced past goalkeeper Timo Horn and turned the ball in from a narrow angle.

Dortmund keeper Roman Burki joked about his new teammate: "It's a shame his figures are already dropping. Three goals, two goals. I just don't hope it's only one next week."

Both first-half goals came from long passes upfield from defender Mats Hummels, who also saw a header hit the bar.

Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are close to finalising an unexpected deal to exchange full-backs Layvin Kurzawa and Mattia De Sciglio, sources have revealed to ESPN.

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The 27-year-old France international had been the subject of interest from Arsenal, and he preferred that move to Inter Milan, but PSG have opted to include him in the swap deal for the Italian -- despite coach Thomas Tuchel's need for Kurzawa while Juan Bernat is injured.

As informed by ESPN sources last week, PSG sporting director Leonardo has kept his eye on De Sciglio since last summer with the idea of strengthening depth on both the left and right side of the defence with the 27-year-old's acquisition.

However, Thomas Meunier had been expected to be the player to feature in any swap deal with Juve as the Belgium international is also into the final six months of his contract.

According to ESPN sources, De Sciglio and Kurzawa will switch places on a permanent basis, and the former AS Monaco man will be reunited with ex-teammates Blaise Matuidi and Adrien Rabiot in Turin.

Unlike the Frenchman, De Sciglio is under contract until 2022, and cost Juve €12 million from AC Milan back in 2017.

As recently as last Sunday, after PSG's 1-0 Coupe de France round of 32 win away at Lorient, Leonardo insisted Arsenal had not contacted the French champions for Kurzawa.

The Gunners had initially contacted the player with a view to a summer move, but a winter switch swiftly became a possibility before it became clear that any PSG departures this month would require fees -- or at least form part of an exchange deal.

The January business might not yet be done at Parc des Princes as the French capital outfit have slapped a €20m price tag on Edinson Cavani as Atletico Madrid chase the signature of the Uruguay international, who is the Ligue 1 giants' all-time top scorer.

Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez welling up while explaining to his parents that "our" European dream was coming to an end was a rare glimpse into the delicacy of the decision-making process of an elite athlete.

The "beginning of retirement" quote was used in some quarters to suggest that Hernandez knows his competitive career is over, or that he's moved to LA Galaxy exclusively for the paycheck. But the emotional conversation -- all recorded for the world to see -- with his parents also provided an insight that Hernandez had covered up about his frustration at not playing.

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The key quotes from the episode of his "Naked Humans" YouTube show weren't necessarily the bit about retirement, but when Hernandez said "[leaving Europe] is more [sad] because I know I can still do it" and, while fighting back the tears, "the only thing I want is to play."

Fast forward a few days and Hernandez struck a very different figure in his introductory press conference for the Galaxy. The Mexican spoke at a rate of a thousand words per minute, as he tends to do, in both English and Spanish, and cut a positive figure. If he isn't genuinely excited about his new challenge in MLS, then he did a good job of pretending to be.

"I'm going to be doing what I've loved since I was in the belly of my mother hearing about football, football, football," said Hernandez, whose father and maternal grandfather both played for Mexico. "I love that."

Off the field, Hernandez got married and became a father last year, but on it he failed to earning a regular starting spot, first at West Ham United and then Sevilla. In 2019, Hernandez netted five league goals and only started 12 league matches.

The move to MLS for Hernandez is the end of an era for Mexico fans that will remember those Champions League afternoon with hashtags "Martes de Chicharito" (Chicharito Tuesday) and "Miércoles de Chicharito" (Chicharito Wednesday) seemingly trending every other week as "Little Pea" scored goal after goal in Europe's top competition.

It was hard not to feel a twinge of nostalgia when Hernandez -- likely to go down as Mexico's third-best ever player after La Liga legends Hugo Sanchez and Rafa Marquez -- mentioned Sir Alex Ferguson and scoring the last Manchester United goal of his 27 years in charge.

"I went from doubting whether to retire at Chivas to playing at Manchester United within a year and a half," he reminisced. "No one imagined that Alex Ferguson would retire and I scored the last goal of his era."

The irony of the El Tri's starting No. 9 Raul Jimenez netting for Wolves against Liverpool just minutes before Hernandez began to speak on Thursday won't have been lost on Mexico fans. The baton at national team level was left in the air after the 2018 World Cup, but Jimenez has taken it under Gerardo "Tata" Martino and run away into the distance.

Indeed, Hernandez wasn't asked about his national team future at his introductory press conference and there remains a doubt over the status of Mexico's all-time highest goal-scorer. Hernandez's friend and Monterrey star Miguel Layun has talked of being "stabbed in the back" by people within the federation and, while Hernandez's situation may not be exactly the same, his name was notably absent from Martino's October and November call-ups.

But there's a wider issue at play in Hernandez moving to MLS and what it means for Mexican football. On an individual level, few would begrudge Hernandez his substantial payday. He played for two of the world's three biggest clubs and became the figurehead of Mexican soccer for a decade. Hernandez doesn't owe Mexico anything. As many have already pointed out, it was the right moment to move to a city like Los Angeles, which, it is often claimed, has more people of Mexican descent than even Hernandez's home town of Guadalajara (Mexico's second biggest city).

But for Mexican soccer in general, Hernandez's move away from Europe is part of a trend of players returning to North America. There's been a drop from 17 Mexican players in the Old Continent only a couple of years ago to just 10 today. For anyone who subscribes to the theory that Mexico will challenge at the later stages of World Cups when it has more players playing at the highest level, Hernandez's move is the latest cause for concern.

The reality is that the big-name Mexican player can often command a higher salary and transfer value in MLS and in some cases also in Liga MX. Heading into Major League Soccer's 25th season, the two highest profile players in the league are both Mexican and both play in Los Angeles: Carlos Vela and Hernandez.

Jimenez continues to be a sensation in the Premier League, but Martino probably hasn't liked too much of what he has seen of late for the other Mexicans in Europe. Of the other nine Atletico Madrid's Hector Herrera is the only one playing at an elite club. The group of Nestor Araujo (Celta Vigo), Jesus "Tecatito" Corona (Porto), Omar Govea (Zulte Waregem) and Andres Guardado (Real Betis) are regulars at their respective clubs, but younger players Diego Lainez (Real Betis), Erick Gutierrez (PSV Eindhoven), Edson Alvarez (Ajax Amsterdam) and even Hirving "Chucky" Lozano (Napoli) haven't started many games of late.

In the days following the Hernandez announcement, the Galaxy sold twice as many season tickets as they did from signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, according to a report in The Athletic. There were 160 accredited members of the press and 60 TV cameras at Thursday's introductory press conference. The Chicharito effect will be almost certainly be seen this season in attendances when the Galaxy plays all around MLS, plus in TV viewing numbers.

The Mexican sports star and fan is a highly valuable commodity over two markets. Mexican boxer Saul "Canelo" Alvarez was the fourth highest-paid athlete on the planet in 2019, according to Forbes. He made that money from fighting and selling pay-per-view packages in the United States. Mexico men's national team games in the U.S. averaged 57,546 in 2019 (compared to 23,306 for the U.S. men's national team), while the NFL and NBA have both held regular season games in Mexico City in recent months, with MLB scheduled to do the same in April.

Given all that, would it be any real surprise if Monterrey duo Rodolfo Pizarro and Carlos Rodriguez or Cruz Azul's Roberto Alvarado were in MLS in two years time? Or if Corona was attracted to the league from Porto? And if Gutierrez continues to struggle with PSV Eindhoven that MLS clubs looking for a cultured midfielder or a Liga MX clubs with money to splash (read Tigres, Monterrey, Club America, Cruz Azul or Chivas) bring him back to North America?

It raises a question about the future of Mexico's men's national team: Does there come at tipping point at which El Tri's best bet at having players playing their club soccer at the elite level is to hope that MLS and Liga MX -- individually and through the partnership -- become leagues that can compete with Europe's best?

It's a stretch at this point. MLS is still behind Liga MX and Europe's elite is a magnet for specialist soccer talent both on and off the pitch. And there is some hope that the next generation of Mexican players will make the jump to Europe soon: Chivas striker Jose Juan Macias looks like he can follow in Hernandez's footsteps, Monterrey's Rodriguez has the class to perform at the elite, as does Alvarado. Already in Europe, Lozano, Alvarez, Lainez and Gutierrez may see their fortunes change in the second half of the 2019-20 season.

But movement of players in the world transfer market is governed largely by money and Hernandez's move to Galaxy is another reminder that the appeal of MLS -- and to a degree Liga MX -- over Europe for a Mexican player is stronger than ever.

Pretend for a moment that there's a continuum in football. At one end, there's the physical: the stuff you can observe and, to some degree, quantify. Technical ability. Stamina. Athleticism. Strength. We can roll many of these things up in cold, hard numbers. Analytics can't measure them directly, but they can give us a good sense of their outcomes. Strikers who score goals are good. Defenders who don't concede are good. Teams with good xG differences are good.

At the other end is the metaphysical. The fuzzy stuff. Heart. Personality. Decision-making (and its cousin, experience). Mentality. This too tends to show up in numbers, albeit mostly when the numbers somehow surprise us. You tend to notice when the qualities aren't there, rather than when they're present. And because it's intangible, know-it-when-I-see-it stuff, it's sort of a one-size-fits-all. It also makes some people (like me) somewhat uncomfortable precisely because it's intangible. And, partly, because I've had enough of folks who see a team get thoroughly outplayed but nick a winner with a lucky smash-and-grab and then be told they "wanted it more," "played with more passion" and "had a winning mentality."

All of which brings us to Chelsea after their 2-2 home-draw-that-feels-like-a-crushing-defeat with Arsenal. (And yes: when you're a goal and a man up at home for more than an hour, playing against a side 10 points back in the table and missing their best striker, that's what it feels like.) It's worthy of review ahead of Saturday's FA Cup fourth round trip to Hull City (stream live on ESPN+, Saturday, 12.30 p.m. ET)

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Chelsea recorded 19 shots on goal to Arsenal's two. They notched 2.09 xG to Arsenal's 0.5 effort. They hit the woodwork but then, they fizzled out. Five times this season -- against Arsenal, Bournemouth and Sheffield United at home, Brighton and Newcastle away -- Chelsea have conceded late goals that cost them points. Some were unavoidable (witness Alireza Jahanbakhsh's remarkable overhead kick) and some were the result of individual or collective blunders, but the upshot is that without those late goals, they'd be second, two points ahead of Manchester City. Their average xG in each of those games was more than a goal higher than their opponents, which raises the question of just why they ended up scratching on the eight ball.

This is where you either chalk it up to the wonderful randomness of football or you get a bit metaphysical. Chelsea lend themselves to this reading because they are packed with young players, many of them Academy graduates. Their 15 most frequently used players by minutes played features seven guys who are 23 or younger. That probably doesn't impact the mental toughness/personality side as much as grizzled ex-pros will tell you -- put differently, you don't suddenly grow some when you hit your late 20s -- but it does impact decison-making and experience.

Simply put, most of them have very few games under their belt against Premier League standard opposition. They've played plenty of games, but not against guys this skillful, smart and experienced. Reading what is about to happen takes that little bit longer -- neurons fire that little bit more slowly without an ingrained data set of past experiences -- and so decisions are that little bit poorer.

Over the entire course of a game, and all things being equal, it matters less. In the dying minutes, when pressure mounts, legs get heavy and minds get blurry it can make all the difference. Youth also impacts fatigue.

One former Chelsea official I spoke to, who has a wealth of experience dealing with younger players, made the simple point about fatigue. The likes of Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount, Reece James and Tammy Abraham all played plenty last year in the Football League, but what they didn't do very often is get on a plane, unlike this year with European and international commitments. It's not that first-class travel and overnight stays is physically punishing; rather, it's that it messes with your training rhythms and at that age, if you're unaccustomed to it, it can make a difference.

There is probably something to be said about an even fuzzier concept: leadership. It's tempting to wistfully reminisce about the Chelseas of yesteryear with their Terrys and Lampards, Cechs and Drogbas and talk about how this is simply a different group. Look around this group and the closest you get in terms of leadership types is Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta. Most of the others are more low-key or simply lead-by-example rather than chest-beating types.

Again, this is the sort of quality that becomes "a thing" only when a team stumbles but late Tuesday night at a frosty Stamford Bridge, that's what you saw. Rudiger shouting, Azpilicueta haranguing, yes, but also Abraham limping, Barkley meandering, Emerson fretting, Jorginho spinning and Mount searching. They didn't look a side with the "been there, done that" confidence to see out games they had already won. They looked soft, especially to those who remember the veteran-filled title-winning sides of yesteryear with the guys like Diego Costa, Nemanja Matic, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill and, yup, John Terry.

The good news is there's a flip-side. First and foremost, if you'd told Frank Lampard that his Chelsea team would be in the knockout stages of the Champions League and fourth in the table at this stage of the season, after the summer transfer ban, he would have taken it. Beyond that, they have plenty of the physical traits mentioned above and those are the building blocks of any top side in modern football.

As for the metaphysical ones, some will be developed, some will be unearthed and yes, some players won't make the grade at Stamford Bridge. Because tempting as it is to throw in the home-grown youngsters and believe that all they need is trust and playing time, football doesn't work that way. But several will and those who won't will help fill the coffers, as has been Chelsea's business model over the past decade.

Lampard's Chelsea are ahead of the curve in what is a transition season. Many of the points dropped are simply the growing pains of a young inexperienced side that may be short on experience leader-types. The challenge will come later: deciding which guys to keep and stake the club's future on and which to shed.

23-overs-a-side India Under-19 115 for no loss (Jaiswal 57*, Saxena 52*) beat New Zealand Under-19 147 (Mariu 42, Lellman 31, Bishnoi 4-30, Ankolekar 3-28) by 44 runs (DLS method)

India were challenged for the first time in the tournament but they escaped unscathed. Their opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena set the game up with unbeaten half-centuries amid the rain breaks. Then their spin twins Ravi Bishnoi and Atharva Ankolekar came into their own after a brief New Zealand challenge to pick up seven wickets between them. India won by 44 runs via the DLS method to top Group A and set up a quarter-final clash against Australia on January 28.

Asked to bat, India were on course for a big first-innings total at 104 for 0 in 21 overs. But a lightning warning and subsequent rain reduced the game to 23-over-a-side. India returned to add just 11 off their final two overs to finish on 115. That they had 10 wickets in hand went in their favour, with New Zealand's target adjusted to 192. Saxena was the aggressor, hitting six fours in his 62-ball 52 while Jaiswal made 57 in 77 balls.

In their chase, New Zealand were flying after their openers Rhys Mariu and Ollie White struck 51 runs in five overs. India's left-arm pacer Akash Singh felt the brunt of Mariu's big hitting, conceding 16 in his first over.

India captain Priyam Garg's introduction of spin worked right away, however. Legspinner Bishnoi had left-handed White stumped by Dhruv Jurel to break a threatening stand. That did not slow New Zealand down though, as their No. 3 Fergus Lellman smashed left-arm spinner Ankolekar for two sixes to keep New Zealand's run-rate over 10.

Playing in his first game of the tournament, Ankolekar perhaps had some nerves. His first delivery was a short ball that was pulled over the leg side. Then when he bowled full, he was deposited over long-on. At the end of seven overs, New Zealand were 74 for 1, with the required run-rate below 7.50.

But Ankolekar got into the game in his second over by dismissing Mariu for 42, thereby missing out on a third straight fifty. In his third over, Ankolekar bowled Lellman, who looked to slog over the leg side. By the time Ankolekar took his third wicket, in his fifth over, New Zealand were 114 for 4 in the 15th over. Their scoring rate had significantly slowed down.

Garg soon brought Bishnoi back for the 18th over, and he struck thrice in one over to break New Zealand's back. Kartik Tyagi, the right-arm pacer, then bowled a yorker to clean up Adithya Ashok's stumps after which Garg's run out of No. 10 Hancock ended new Zealand's innings.

"I thought the boys handled the pressure well," Garg said at the post-match press conference. "We expected this to be a pressure game. We didn't get frustrated, because we were mentally prepared for rain in South Africa. The discussion among the team was being mentally switched on."

India coach Paras Mhambrey concurred while praising Bishnoi's effort. He also laid out what makes India stronger than the rest.

"We were happy that we were tested today," Mhambrey said. "In that sense, this win is important. "Bishnoi's been fabulous. Contributed in every game. When he came in the Powerplay with the batsmen going hard, it was a difficult situation, and he got us back in the game. He's very skillful, played a lot of cricket and he's maturing every game.

"There will be nerves going ahead, but the advantage that we have is that these boys have played a lot of first-class cricket so the pressure isn't new to them."

As for New Zealand, theoretically, they need to wait for Saturday's game between Sri Lanka and Japan to know whether they qualify for the knockouts, but they're likely to play West Indies in the January 29 quarterfinal at Benoni. Japan's net-run rate of -7.87 will let New Zealand rest easy, while Sri Lanka - on zero points - cannot catch up with them.

Meanwhile in Potchefstroom, Bangladesh and Pakistan were forced to split points after a washout. Both sides ended the group stage unbeaten, but Bangladesh finished higher on account of a better net-run-rate. This meant Bangladesh will play South Africa in the quarter-finals, while Pakistan will take on Group D toppers Afghanistan on January 31.

Only 25 out of the 37 overs were possible as there were a number of interruptions. Pakistan had the better of the exchanges in whatever little play was possible, as they left Bangladesh tottering on 106 for 9. The fast bowling duo of Mohammad Amir Khan (four wickets) and Abbas Afridi (three) didn't give Bangladesh any leeway. Only opener Tanzid Hasan threw in some sort of resistance in making 34.

"Hit him again," came the cry from an exasperated South African supporter, as Anrich Nortje geared up to deliver the final ball of his sixth over, eight minutes after his previous delivery, which sconed Zak Crawley on the helmet.

It was hardly a classy piece of advice for the quick bowler - and the Wanderers crowd are not known for their hospitality to opposition teams - but it was also the only one South African fans could come up with. They were desperate.

It was 28 overs into the England innings, and South Africa had nothing. Even the somethings they could have had were nothings.

When Dom Sibley was given out after what looked like a strangle down the legside from Beuran Hendricks, he reviewed and was found not to have made any contact with the ball. Four overs later, Sibley steered Vernon Philander straight to gully but even as Temba Bavuma and Faf du Plessis were celebrating Bavuma's catch, the rest were watching Joel Wilson's signal for a no-ball. Sibley was on 10 the first time, and 12 the second. He was on 29 by the time Crawley was hit. The growing impatience, from people who waited more than three hours just to see some play, was understandable. And it spoke to a wider restlessness that can be felt rumbling through the cricket community in this country.

Although fans have been told, repeatedly, that rebuilding the South Africa team is going to take a few years, the fast-forward nature of the changes that took place mid-December, the win at SuperSport Park and the fight at Newlands promised a quick-fix. But since then, South Africa have been teetering on the brink of free-fall. And that's not an exaggeration.

Consider that the last time South Africa lost three successive Test series was in 2004-5 when they were defeated by Sri Lanka, India (both away) and England (at home). They have already lost to the first two in this run, made worse by the fact that the failing against Sri Lanka came at home. Should they lose the Wanderers Test, they will have repeated that sequence of defeats, which came at a time when South Africa had options. Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn were at the beginning of their careers, and competition for places was steep.

Now, South Africa are searching for options, so much so that in their last 10 Tests dating back to the Wanderers fixture a year ago, 11 players have made their debuts. Not only is that effectively a whole team, but it literally could have been. There have been top-order batsmen, Pieter Malan, Zubayr Hamza and Rassie van der Dussen, middle-order players like Heinrich Klaasen (also a wicket-keeper), two spin-bowling allrounders, Senuran Muthusamy and George Linde two seam-bowling allrounders, Dwaine Pretorius and Wiaan Mulder and three specialist seamers, Dane Paterson, Hendricks and Nortje. Technically that makes up a team, and it's not a bad team, but it wouldn't be South Africa's first choice.

That five of the rookies are playing this Test tells you how much experience South Africa lack. That two of them, Pretorius and Paterson, effectively do the same thing, and the same as another member of the XI, Philander, speaks to a selection conundrum that South Africa have only become more tied up in since Port Elizabeth. There, they used Paterson and Philander, who opened the bowling despite the presence of Kagiso Rabada, and were equally ineffective on a slow pitch. Here, they brought in Pretorius as well, in place of Keshav Maharaj.

Their decision to go without a spinner might appear to be vindicated by England's choice to do the same but with England scoring at 3.5 runs an over, it begs the question over where South Africa expect sustained control to come from. Maharaj can hold up an end all day, while Philander, Paterson and Pretorius can only do it in bursts, and not always to the same effect. They're all medium pace and in Rabada's absence, that makes the lack of bite in the attack, more obvious.

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South Africa had a flat morning session, the third in a row when they have been in the field and have not taken a wicket. Hendricks acknowledged they bowled "too full," and were not as aggressive as they should have been. That changed post-tea. Sibley was eventually caught down the leg-side off Hendricks, ending the first century stand at this venue since 2013.

Philander produced a vintage dismissal when he had Crawley caught at first slip, hanging his bat out to the perfect fourth-stump delivery and Paterson had Denley, who was dropped twice, eventually caught at slip. But it's the wicket of Ben Stokes that will give South Africa the most confidence.

Nortje drew Stokes forward as he pushed across, took the edge and van der Dussen, who started this series with several drops, pouched his third, high and to his left. The Wanderers crowd knew the importance of the wicket and some of them took to heckling Stokes as he departed. One of them said something he really didn't like.

"Come say that to to me outside the ground, you f***ing four-eyed c***," came the reply from Stokes, caught on camera. The repercussions will be known in the coming hours (or days). The fact that it was said at the opposite end of the day to the barb the came from the grandstand tells the story of the ebb and flow of a prickly start to the finale.

England would probably consider themselves ahead had they not lost 4 for 50 in the second session but South Africa will know that the mini-collapse is a sign of what could come on a pitch that is expected to quicken up, especially given the condition of their line-up.

But there's a third factor here, that could end up playing a role, however small, in how this series ends: the Johannesburg crowd. They don't come in the numbers the Barmy Army does or with the pleasantries of the St George's Park band. They are bunch that don't shy away from causing a bit of trouble, and won't stand for any that's given back to them.